A ferris wheel transforms into a zodiac of stars; a game of poohsticks becomes an act of prayer; deity itself appears as a “blind musician/with a thousand dancing hands.” Following the seasons of a poet’s life over the course of two years, Dragon Ship continually discovers spiritual significance in everyday “incidents of being.” The mythic figure of the dragon, recurring in kites, festivals, alchemical texts, and a ship in Switzerland, joins the worlds of creative and destructive potential in one leading archetypal image.
“Daniel Polikoff is such a gifted and perceptive writer, with nuanced details which, although delicate, resonate clear as a strong bell after the poem has concluded. I think I shall not look at a bullfrog again without seeing wedding rings in its eyes. To create music of such depth is a real accomplishment.”
—Margaret Kaufmann
“Dragon Ship shares the epic voyage of a father and his son. Daniel Polikoff gives us a series of moving and spiritual poems that pair the wide-eyed innocence of a child’s outlook with the layered complexity of a skilled poet’s world view.”
—Susan Terris
